Tours en l'air organizes ballet-themed escorted holidays to see the best companies perform great ballets in beautiful places. You can join a trip from anywhere. A highly knowledgeable balletomane who has enjoyed 100s of performances in over 20 cities around the world,I speak English, French, and German, and am a Travel Industry Council of Ontario certified Travel Counsellor. I also teach ballet appreciation courses.
For a taste of what our trips are like, follow https://www.facebook.com/toursenlair/ on facebook.
Tours en l'air Ballet Holidays are offered in partnership with CWT Victor Travel, 101 - 8800 Dufferin Street, Concord, ON L4K 0C5, 416-736-6010, TICO # 1892647

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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

School of American Ballet performance on PBS


Don’t Miss: Curtain Up: The School of American Ballet Workshop Performances


July 31 on PBS

The School of American Ballet produces some of the finest talent the world has to offer. Go behind the scenes to experience the training of these driven young performers as they strive to become ballet's brightest future stars and prepare an all-Balanchine program featuring Serenade and excerpts from Coppelia, Swan Lake, and Western Symphony

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Fall for Dance North Toronto Program

FALL FOR DANCE NORTH
Artistic Director: Ilter Ibrahimof

Inspired by the internationally acclaimed Fall for Dance  Festival™, created in 2004 by New York City Center a new event comes to Toronto….Fall for Dance North - September 29th to October 1st at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts.  
  
Like the original festival, Fall for Dance North’s audiences will revel in dynamic mixed programs where they will experience anything from contemporary ballet to flamenco and tap in a single evening.  See 11 acclaimed Canadian and international companies over two distinct programs, with cultural influences that reflect the energy and diversity of Toronto. 

Remarkably, for each performance, every seat in every section of the venue will cost just $10! 

PROGRAM 1 - September 29, 2015
Dance Company: The National Ballet of Canada
Country of origin: Canada
Repertoire: TBC
 

Dance Company: Nrtiyagam *Toronto Debut*
Country of origin: India
Repertoire: VIBHAKTA - a duet with Surupa Sen (artistic director, choreographer and soloist) and Bijayini Satpathy (soloist), accompanied by four live musicians.

Nrityagram is one of the most well-regarded and internationally renown classical Indian dance companies. From Nrityagram near Bangalore, the company brings new life to the most ancient Indian dance, Odissi.

Dance Company: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Country of origin: United States, New York City
Repertoire: TAKADEME, by Robert Battle

Ailey has a long history of being presented at the Sony Centre  and is very excited to be part of first ever Fall for Dance North in Toronto. It is the only company that will perform all three nights. The repertoire will change for the September 30 and October 1 performances.




PROGRAM 2
(September 30 & October 1) Dance Company: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Country of origin: United States (New York City)
Repertoire: AFTER THE RAIN PAS-DE-DEUX, by Christopher Wheeldon

Christopher Wheeldon won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Choreography for his work on An American in Paris on Broadway. He is well known to Toronto audiences. The National Ballet of Canada co-produced his Alice with The Royal Ballet, as well as the upcoming The Winter's Tale. He made After the Rain for New York City Ballet in 2005. The duet is the most famous part of the ballet, and it was originally danced by Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto.

Artists: Peggy Baker ft. Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre.
*WORLD PREMIERE, FESTIVAL COMMISSION
Country of origin: Canada (Toronto)
Repertoire: Peggy and Sarah are collaborating on a new choreography to be performed by Peggy with a live music accompaniment by Sarah.

Dance Company: DanceBrazil
Country of origin: Brazil

DanceBrazil evolved from grass-roots workshops in 1977 and has since thrilled audiences with a unique fusion of Afro-Brazillian movement, contemporary dance and the traditional dance/martial arts form Capoeira.
Note: DanceBrazil will feature 10 dancers and three live musicians.
Dance Company: Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company
Country of origin: Canada (Toronto)

Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company captures the essence of flamenco balancing tradition and classicism with a modern, contemporary aesthetic.
Esmeralda will revive one of her most well received pieces with guest artist(s) from Spain. 

General Public Onsale starts on Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 10:00 AM EDT

To buy tickets: 
http://www.ticketmaster.ca/venueartist/131106/2135017&camefrom=cfc_sony_centre_sonyweb_FFDN

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Greta Hodgkinson performs at PanAm Games #Toronto2015

National Ballet of Canada Principal Dancer Greta Hodgkinson will be performing Venom, choreographed by Guillaume Coté, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto as part of the PanAm Games cultural activities, July 13, 14, 15, 17, and 18 at 915 pm. Performance is outdoors and admission is free. 



If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Dance premiere at Pan-Am Games #Toronto2015

Canada’s National Ballet School presents "of the People" by Shaun Amyot and Demis Volpi

Where

Betty Oliphant Theatre at Canada's - National Ballet School 404 Jarvis Street 
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2G6

When

Wednesday July 15, 2015 - 07:30 PM

TICKET

Tickets starting from $30

World Premiere

Emerging dance artists from six different countries of the Americas will come together at Canada's National Ballet School to explore their cultural differences and similarities in a new work choreographed by Shaun Amyot (Canada) and National Ballet School graduate and Stuttgart Ballet dancer and resident choreographer Demis Volpi (Argentina). Shorter works choreographed and performed by NBS students will complete the program.  Ticketed

https://youtu.be/kM1ypP7-Jtc

 

Ralph Fiennes to direct Nureyev film for BBC

It was announced today that Ralph Fiennes will be directing a feature-length film based on an incident in the life of Rudolf Nureyev. Fiennes will not be playing the part of Nureyev. The film will be written by David Hare, screenwriter of The Reader. For more details:

http://www.screendaily.com/news/ralph-fiennes-to-direct-rudolf-nureyev-drama/5089637.article

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Monday, June 22, 2015

Jurgita Dronina joins National Ballet of Canada as Principal Dancer

Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced Jurgita Dronina will join the company as Principal Dancer in the 2015/16 season. The 2015/16 roster will also include eight new Corps de Ballet members.
Jurgita Dronina was born in Saratov, Russia and trained at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art in Lithuania and Munich International Ballet School. She was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Swedish Ballet and Dutch National Ballet before joining the National Ballet. Ms. Dronina was also a Guest Principal Artist with The Hong Kong Ballet. Her repertoire includes Nykia in La Bayadère, Princess Aurora in The  Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the title role in Giselle, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote by Alexei Ratmansky and the title role in Christopher’s Wheeldon’s Cinderella. Ms. Dronina has also created roles in contemporary works by such choreographers as Jean-Christophe Maillot, Rudi van Dantzig, Benjamin Millepied, Jorma Elo, David Dawson and Sidi-Larbi Cherkaoui.

On her facebook page, Jurgita Dronina had this to say:
"I am delighted to be joining the National Ballet of Canada and working for Karen Kain as my artistic director , I truly admire her strong artistic vision and quality demands for the company.
When I first approached Karen, I felt such an appreciation for my work, artistic drive and future goals, that I instantly felt that, this is the place that will meet all my expectations both professionally and personally.
I am excited to move to my new home in Toronto and give the best years of my career to the National Ballet of Canada. With the marvelous repertoire that the company has and with it's rich history, I am simply proud to be part of it !"


I have seen Jurgita Dronina dance on Tours en l'air trips to the Netherlands and am very excited that she is joining our company in Toronto.

https://youtu.be/M8XJJ6SStd0 




If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Sunday, June 21, 2015

June Tours en l'air newsletter

Tours en l'air Ballet Holidays
201 Hanson St, Toronto, ON Canada M4C 1A7 416.693.4496
BALLET MAKES LIFE BETTER
GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

19 June 2015
Dear Balletomane,
In this newsletter:
      1. Vote for your dream ballet trip(s) in 2016
      2. A bunch o' ballet videos

Full 2016 Tours en l'air season announced
I have added one more trip to the possibilities, a 10-day 20th anniversary extravaganza for Reid Anderson in Stuttgart in July. Tickets for this will be very hard to come by, but I have already had some put on hold for Tours en l'air. Sightseeing trips to the Black Forest, Baden-Baden, Heidelberg, Rothenburg auf der Tauber, Ludwigsburg, and other “must-see” spots in southern Germany would be included. Here's the ballet program:
July 15 - 25, 11 days
Stuttgart
Reid Anderson 20th Anniversary Celebrations
Dancers of the Korean National Ballet, Czech National Ballet, Ballett Zürich, Ballet du Rhin, Augsburg Ballett, Ballett im Revier and Gauthier Dance
Mixed Program
Stuttgart Ballet
Mixed Program (excerpts from Stuttgart Ballet world premieres of the last 20 years)
the second detail (Forsythe), new Goecke, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (Scholz)
Romeo and Juliet (Cranko)
The Taming of the Shrew (Cranko)
Onegin  (Cranko)
John Cranko School Gala
Stuttgart Ballet Gala

Please “vote” now for any trip you might be interested in and available for.
We are approaching the “elimination round” of the annual Tours en l'air destination popularity competition.
For those of you who are new to the process, this is how it works:
  1. Click here to see the complete list all the trips I have determined are doable and exciting: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/p/upcoming-ballet-trips.html
  2. tell me which ones might suit you, even if later you may have to decline. Please list ALL the trips you might go on. I will not interpret this as meaning you will go on all of them! If you would really like to go on a ballet trip next year and Paris-Amsterdam is your first choice, I highly recommend you give a second choice as well, since the Paris-Amsterdam trip is likely to sell out.

    I cannot give estimates on costs at this point; to be able to do that I actually have to plan every detail of the trip, reserve hotel rooms, charter buses, etc. etc.
    You are not committing yourself to anything; it's just a way for me to eliminate any trips for which people aren't available (since I have no idea when you all are free to travel). No point doing all that planning only to find out that no one, for instance, can go to San Francisco in February anyway! But if you ARE interested in a trip, let me know; insufficient expressed interest will cause it to be removed from the schedule.
    Once you're on the list for any given trip, you get priority when booking officially opens. Some of my trips sell out, so you want your name to be in there!
    Over 130 people have now enjoyed the exhilarating and unique experience that is a Tours en l'air Ballet Holiday.

    It's your turn in 2015-16!

Australian Ballet Romeo & Juliet on Knowledge TV

British Columbia's public broadcaster, Knowledge, will be airing Graeme Murphy's Romeo and Juliet starring Madeleine Eastoe and Kevin Jackson and the Australian Ballet on June 24 at 9 pm and Thursday June 25 at 1 am Pacific Time (midnight and 4 am Eastern Time). Knowledge is available by Bell satellite outside of BC.

Royal Ballet La Fille mal Gardee in Toronto

The Bloor Cinema, Bloor just east of Bathurst, will be showing the Royal Ballet's Fille mal Gardée, starring superstars Natalia Osipova and Stephen McRae, on Sunday July 19th at 1230 pm. Take any children you know. Tix are only $12 for adults!


Aurélie Dupont documentary available on YouTube

This documentary, released last month to mark the retirement of one of the greatest dancers of her generation, Paris Opera Ballet's Aurélie Dupont, has now been posted in its entirety on YouTube. It is in French but it is mostly dancing. https://youtu.be/8tFTT_XRs8I

Here's a gorgeous tutu: The Lilac Fairy in The Australian Ballet's new production: http://www.behindballet.com/first-glimpse-the-lilac-fairy/

Dutch National Ballet rehearses a new work by David Dawson (those of us who went to Vienna and Prague raved about his Giselle in Dresden): https://youtu.be/gPoDA5uoNEM

A very cute video about National Ballet of Canada principals Heather Ogden and Guillaume Côté and baby Emma: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/life-video/video-balancing-work-and-family-and-injury-with-canadas-premier-ballet-couple/article24703971/

Preparing to teach my class about Marie Rambert in my “Jewish Contributions to Ballet” course, I was reminded how much I enjoyed Christopher Bruce's Rooster, created for the Rambert Dance Company:

New York City Ballet's fabulous Daniel Ulbricht (those of us who went to New York met him, and we AIN'T SHARING HIM!!): https://youtu.be/Z8yyCR4yb5Y

Rehearsal video from Vienna State Ballet's “Young Talents” program (including some dancers we had dinner with and watched in class): https://vimeo.com/128344216


Katherine Barber
Tours en l'air Ballet Holidays
www.toursenlair.blogspot.com
201 Hanson St, Toronto, ON Canada M4C 1A7 416.693.4496
BALLET MAKES LIFE BETTER
GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR
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Friday, June 19, 2015

Suzanne Farrell podcast

Suzanne Farrell appeared for a 90-minute interview discussing Balanchine with New York Public Library, who have posted it as a podcast:
http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/06/16/podcast-suzanne-farrell?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral

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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Updated NBOC Sleeping Beauty casting

A spate of injuries has resulted in major reshuffling of the casting for the National Ballet of Canada's Sleeping Beauty. For the revised casting, please see this link:
http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2015/05/national-ballet-sleeping-beauty-casting.html

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Sunday, June 7, 2015

National Ballet of Canada promotions

Naoya Ebe and Elena Lobsanova will be promoted to Principal Dancer for the 2015/16 Season.
Stephanie Hutchison, Etienne Lavigne and Jonathan Renna will be promoted to Principal Character Artist.
Promoted to First Soloist will be Skylar Campbell, Jordana Daumec, Francesco Gabriele Frola (from the Corps de Ballet), Harrison James (from the Corps de Ballet), Chelsy Meiss, Jenna Savella and Dylan Tedaldi.
Jack Bertinshaw, Hannah Fischer, Emma Hawes, Kathryn Hosier and Brent Parolin will be promoted to Second Soloist.
Christopher Gerty, Spencer Hack, Soo Ah Kang and Calley Skalnik are joining the Corps de Ballet from the RBC Apprentice Programme.
First Soloist Robert Stephen is the recipient of the 2014/15 David Tory Award, named for the former Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors. Each year the Award recognizes one dancer who exemplifies all the celebrated qualities of Mr. Tory: mentorship, humility, optimism, compassion, leadership, honesty, integrity, enthusiasm and generosity of spirit.
Jane Darville, Chair of the Patrons' Council Committee, announced the recipients of the Patron Award of Merit: Corps de Ballet members Hannah Fischer and Harrison James. The Patrons' Council Committee generously sponsors the award which is given to one male and one female Corps de Ballet member or Apprentice at the end of each season to recognize their progress.

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Aurélie Dupont documentary available on YouTube

This documentary, released last month to mark Dupont's retirement, has now been posted in its entirety on YouTube. It is in French.


https://youtu.be/8tFTT_XRs8I



If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Royal Ballet La Fille mal Gardee in Toronto



The Bloor Cinema will be showing the Royal Ballet's Fille mal Gardée, starring Natalia Osipova and Stephen McRae, on Sunday July 19th at 1230 pm.

 https://youtu.be/el4z9bJDO4o


If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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Monday, June 1, 2015

Australian Ballet Romeo & Juliet on Knowledge TV

http://www.behindballet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/main.jpg

British Columbia's public broadcaster, Knowledge, will be airing Graeme Murphy's Romeo and Juliet starring Madeleine Eastoe and Kevin Jackson and the Australian Ballet on June 24 at 9 pm Pacific Time (midnight Eastern Time). This is geoblocked outside Canada. Knowledge is available by Bell satellite outside of BC.

https://youtu.be/PZnZzi7-IAQ


If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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